asked you, why are you awake? we have your answers. >> who writes, we think you're playing coy with your sports knowledge. fes up. >> i have you all fooled. all fooled. thanks, john. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ 0-2 the count, runner at first, one out. fly ball into left. bryce harper. can't see it. it goes behind him. it's two on with one out. a at no point did he act like he couldn't see it until it basically landed behind him. >> nobody is there to help him.

no short stop. too deep for the short stop to come out. here he lost the ball. >> wow. >> good morning. a live shot there for you of washington, d.c. it is wednesday, july 11th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set in washington we have msnbc chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. >> let me just say -- >> oh. i'm a little distracted. >> for the purposes of this morning -- mets fan. bryce harper is [ inaudible ]. >> are we going to start right there. >> he's only 19. >> cute thing. >> for a guy that cooky you should be able to catch a pop-up. >> really? interesting. >> come on. have you ever looked at those lights. >> oh, that's bad. >> hate when that happens. >> andrea, you're going to defend that? >> absolutely. >> could i catch that. >> msnbc political analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee and a man who has never botched an easy pop fly --

>> no. >> also, pulitzer prize winning editorle writer for "the washington post" and the man we all go to if we have baseball questions, jonathan capehart. >> and in new york, mike barnicle. mike, last night the national league didn't look like aaa, did they? >> they came out of the box against justin verlander, eight on the board, that game was over about 16 seconds into the game. >> so back, you know, in the '70s, back i guess even before then, everybody stopped and watched the all-star game. is it as big a deal today as it was back in the '60s and the '70s? >> no. >> does anybody care anymore? >> i'm sure people care. i mean, you know -- >> other than phil griffin. >> yeah. i care. >> i care. >> legitimate baseball fans care, but it certainly is not as big a deal as it used to be because of interleague play. we see different players from different teams in both leagues

all during the year. you can get any game you want on your baseball package on cable. doesn't have the same allure that it used to, certainly. >> yeah. mika. >> yeah. >> the battle over the bush tax cuts. >> here we go again. >> here we go. >> now it's -- because we were talking yesterday on the set in new york about the limit, the $250,000 limit. that could come back. it's growing over how much of the bush-era tax cuts to extend just for the middle class, or, perhaps, for the wealthiest americans as well. both candidates invoked the 42nd president bill clinton to frame their strategies yesterday. take a listen. >> i mean, the very idea of raising taxes on small business and job creators at the very time we need more jobs, is the sort of thing only an extreme liberal could come up with. this is the sort of thing that used to be in the democratic party in the times past. bill clinton called himself a new democrat. he put that behind him.

he believed in smaller government, reformed welfare as we knew it and tried to get the economy going with trade and other provisions, lower taxes. look, new democrats have done some good things. a lot of republicans have done some good things. but this old-style liberalism of bigger and bigger government and bigger and bigger taxes has got to end and we will end it in november. >> anybody making over $250,000 a year, including me, we'd go back to the tax rates that we were paying under bill clinton. which by the way, was a time when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest budget surplus in history, and created plenty of millionaires to boot. >> you know, mika, i have a couple thoughts. first of all, back in 1999. >> yes. >> when we were all going down and we filled the tidal basin. >> left with good. >> with kerosene and we were dipping our torches in to make that walk up to the capitol and impeach bill clinton i never thought a republican would be

invoking the good old days of bill clinton. much has changed in 13 years. it's a strange world. that's what eight years of deficits will do for you. secondly, were i barack obama, i might not bring up bill clinton and tax cuts because bill clinton is, of course, a guy that said, we need to cut corporate taxes, bill clinton's a guy that says, we don't need to raise taxes on anybody. i think he said that to harvey on cnn. that's a tougher -- it's a tougher pull for him. >> i wonder what bill clinton would think of what the president is proposing right now and perhaps it's a good idea -- >> i think he already said he's against it. >> say nice thing about bill clinton right now. talk about how much he loves bill clinton and then tell him to keep his mouth shut. michael steele. >> i think that's a fair point. i'm intrigued by the whole idea of this conversation to begin with. this invocation of bill clinton is nice, but what they fail to

acknowledge is that what spurred that growth that they're talking about was not the tax rates that the top earners were paying, was the cut in capital gains that spurred those owners of industry and small businesses to go and invest in that economy that was being created and supported by welfare reform and the like. so you've got to look at the total package of what bill clinton did. he cut spending, working with newt gingrich in the republican house at the time, they cut the capital gains as they increased the rates for top earners to 39%. but keep this point in mind, taxes for the top rate earners go up to 43% beginning next year anyway. so, now you're talking about if you want to take that number higher, you're talking close to 50% for those top earners if he gets his way, the president gets his way. >> and -- >> tax cuts. >> mike, we don't know what's going to happen. there's going to be a grand compromise. what i don't understand, though, and i didn't understand before,

when the president had a chance two years ago to raise taxes on millionaires or at least take that as his position, he passed it. he just -- he let that go by. i don't understand why he's not starting at a million dollars, just for purely political purposes, because there are a lot of people up in massachusetts right now who are trying to decide between candidates like elizabeth warren and scott brown who are going to say, i make $250,000, i got six employees, if they raise my taxes, i'm going to have to let somebody go. >> joe, i mean, you happen to be right on point here in your first day back right out of the box. >> shocking. >> throwing fastballs. >> shocking for any day that i'm here. >> just talk. >> first of all -- i don't understand -- >> what did they feed you? >> i don't understand it because

i don't know enough about it. i'm wondering whether this insistence on the president's part that the ceiling be $250,000 rather than a million dollars, i'm wondering a couple things about it. why so many democrats, democrats, want the ceiling at a million dollars rather than the president's insistence on $250,000. and i'm wondering if the insistence on $250,000 comes out of focus group information that the campaign is conducting, rather than sitting down and figuring out the best economic policy for this country. that i think is going to be a big question that's going to have to be answered in the next several weeks. >> i think the reason why, andrea, claire mccaskill is campaigning across missouri and i'll guarantee you, because i always found them, there are people who make $200,000, $250,000, $300,000, they have

three or four or five employees, the little nerds that write the columns say only 2% of the people file as a small business owner. doesn't matter how they file their taxes as a business. it's still out of their pocket because they're sole proprietors however they file it. however they give their money to the irs. so, a tax increase takes away from their bottom line regardless. >> and you have the other argument as well that those 2% or 3% are actually more of the job creators. >> of course. >> in those small businesses. look, you've got claire mccaskill, bill nelson, john tester and chuck schumer representing people in new york and he says, you know, people living in new york make $250,000, their expenses are huge and they're not just business people. there are people actually that make that amount of money in two-income families. >> jonathan -- i'm sorry. >> i want to ask what these job creators have been doing with these tax cuts so far and how

their situations have been improved greatly and how they're hiring so many people and how this would all stop. it's ridiculous. >> it's not ridiculous. >> come on. have they worked? >> we're talking about people right now, we're not talking about millionaires. >> i know. >> we're talking about people making -- >> i would prer that. >> $250,000, $300, $350 struggling to keep their businesses open. they're not creating jobs right now. >> so -- >> they're fledgling to keep their businesses open. >> the tax cuts in place by bush haven't worked? >> the tax cuts put in place by bush, afforded by president obama, these are really obama tax cuts -- >> they haven't spurred growth, have they? >> we're going through a terrible stretch right now. >> right. >> the question is, when you're sick, how much -- how much medicine -- >> so that concept -- >> in 2001 one -- >> that concept applies to tax cuts but doesn't apply to the deficit and spending. >> mika -- >> you know because i think the liberal argument or the

democrats would argue you don't cut spending on certain programs when we're in a bad situation. so -- same argument. >> on the 250,000 versus million dollar threshold i'm going to add on to what barnicle said and wonder if this is a negotiating position. >> sure. >> the president saying $250,000 -- >> will end up at a million. >> and the other thing, in terms of taxes, there's a story on the second page two of the "washington post," federal kax rates hit 30-year low in 2009. it's a combination -- >> this is the congressional budget office data. this is a result of two things. one, tax cuts put in place by president obama in his first year in office, but also a reduction in the amount of income by the wealthiest earners. >> their incomes dropped so quickly. >> incomes dropped by i think it says here income fell 12% on average from 2007 to twine. when republicans say the president wants to jack up and raise taxes on the middle class

and everyone -- here you have this -- >> but wait -- >> the president of the administration has been saying over and over -- >> jonathan -- >> here's congressional budget office report that shows that. >> he can go out and say that, but to the woman that owns a small business in claire mccaskill's home state that makes $265,000 last year, and her receipts are down because the economy is struggling, she doesn't care what the cbo says. she knows that she can't -- and be you may be right, this may be ultimately a negotiation, but this president's been the campaigner in chief for the past year. i'm not even asking a policy question this morning. i'm asking a political question, why in july, would you put targets on the backs of a lot of small business owners at -- instead of just saying, doing what chuck shoo maker has been saying all along, put it at a million dollars and we're not having this conversation. we're still talking about bryce

harper dropping the ball. >> in particular -- >> let's change the subject. >> i want to go back to jonathan. just -- that's you bring up a good point and we could debate the cbo numbers. but why? >> to answer your political question, i think it goes back to what i said before. i wonder if it's part of a negotiating position. no matter what the president proposes he puts the republicans on the defensive. they have to come back and say, well no, we're not going to do what you want to do, whether it's $250,000 or a million. as we've seen for -- since at least 2010 when the new congress came in, republicans on capitol hill aren't going to do anything. >> mike barnicle, if i were a republican on the campaign trail right now i would have said three weeks ago, i didn't have a whole lot to campaign on other than overblown rhetoric, i can talk about the obama health care tax. i don't care what mitt romney's stupid people said. obama passed and it's a law of the land a health care tax. >> messed that up. >> and obama is now passing -- try to push a small business

tax. i've got two taxes. that's all i'm talk about in my district between now and the campaign. i kick any democrat in a swing district across america legislatively. romney can't do this, but legislatively, this seems like the president's hurting his own cause. >> unless you consider the fact the two words you used that have been thrown around the table in the past two minutes both have incendiary value to voters. one word is taxes. as incendiary value to voters. the other word is millionaire as incendiary value to many, many voters. you use those two words both sides use those words and see where the fire starts burning most fiercely. >> i think they're right on target. >> my point! if he had made it a millionaire's tax barack obama wins going away and the republicans are sitting there looking like defenders of the rich and wealthy. michael steele, that's my whole point. >> you've got it. >> if obama says, we're -- the president says, we're going --

you know what we're going to make those millionaires that got away with so much over the past decade, pay their fair share, i am ending the bush tax cuts for millionaires -- this is chuck schumer's position, and politically, this is the position by the way that politically i've been advocating for the president for two years now, even though i disagree with it, politically, he still insists going down to 250 with the small business owners. >> i don't understand why he wants to relit gait this because the million dollar threshold has been on the table a long time. the president certainly stumbled into. he's picked a fight unnecessarily on the heels of the health care vote, now as you apply put it -- >> you agree with me. >> if the president made this a millionaire's tax republicans would be screwed. >> a much harder slog for the gop on that. >> they get there -- >> they think that by separating this and saying that it is a millionaire's tax, what they think the advantage they're

getting is we're giving a tax cut to the middle-income folks and forcing the republicans to defend a millionaire's tax. >> why don't you start at $1 million instead of $250,000. >> and this idea -- >> what you're doing -- >> i don't think it gains you any ground there. >> michael and joe, you're poking holes at a very good strategy and finding one thing wrong with it. the bottom line this whole thing plays into the president's message personally. protecting the middle class and quite frankly who is mitt romney and why won't he reveal his tax incomes. >> a lot of small business owners believe they make $250,000, they employ five -- >> there's a lot of people who think $250,000 is a lot of in uny. >> exactly. but they employ five or six people, make $250,000, they live in new york or they live in washington or they live in san francisco -- >> yeah. >> or in philadelphia or they live in baltimore, they live in charlotte, they don't feel rich. >> but to joe's point -- >> they feel lucky like my dad

felt lucky, my dad made a couple hundred thousands a year and felt the luckiest guy on earth, a small business owner at the end. >> to your point, another test today on the house floor of whether democrats in swing districts are going to stick with the president. that's on the health care. >> explain that. >> they're going to -- the republicans are forcing this vote which is purely symbolic. it's all politics. a vote on repealing health care. they can't win it not with the senate, not with the president holding a veto if anything were to get to his desk it's not going to get to his desk, they're forcing a lot of democrats to take an uncomfortable vote against what is in some districts an unpopular health care law. >> i see it as setting up the republicans to look obstructionist again and waste time. >> i hate to sound like a broken -- i don't know -- mike, answer if you have the answer or jonathan, whom ever, i don't mean to sound like a broken record here, why not make your life easier, why not help claire

mccaskill, help john tester, why not help moderate democrats across america, and set the limit at $1 million? instead of $250,000. >> that's a question for the administration, but clearly the administration and the re-election campaign has information that shows them that $250,000 -- and the overall message, mika was talking about before about fairness and income inequality and protecting the middle class, that overall message plays better and helps -- >> that does the trick politically, $250,000 is just as good for them as a million? >> it's -- >> is that what you're saying? >> it has to be. because the president has been harping on the $250,000 thresh hold, not just today, but he's been on this for at least a year. >> michael, do you agree $250,000, the white house probably has polling that shows that $250,000 even if you're a small business owner living in boston, and you have five or six

employees, is rich? >> yes. i think it's coming out of stuff like polling and focus group data, yeah. i do. unless the end game is for him to publicly put it on the republicans at some point in august or early september, when congress is reconvened, saying okay, fine, they want a million dollars, i'll give you a million dollars, you to give us, the democrats, the middle class, why. you have to do this. you want your million, here's what the middle class really needs. and see what they do then. >> and then i believe he would look like he is willing to compromise. >> yes. >> which is a great strategy. >> you know what, mika. >> what? >> he's only one man. he's only one man. >> exactly. >> he's only one man. he's only the president. >> perfect. >> how could he be so perfect? how could he? >> you just know i'm right. coming up, democratic political strategist james carville joins

us, former security adviser dr. zbigniew brzezinski, author of the book "the forever war," dexter filkins and former congresswoman jane harman. up next mike allen with the top stories in the politico playbook. first bill karins is back with a check on the forecast. >> hey, bill! >> yes. >> how are you doing, buddy? missed you badly. >> couple great days in the adirondacks, fishing, boating. i would like to say i'm glad to be back. >> well, listen, we're glad you're back. thanks for coming back. >> that's a little much there. >> good morning, everyone. let me give you the forecast. as you know we got rid of the heat wave last week. beautiful in so many areas of the country. humidity is down low too, especially the northern half. the worst weather in the country this morning, unfortunately for our friends in south florida you are getting drenched. yellows and reds are heavy torrential rains. tropical moisture from fort lauderdale through miami down into the keys. eventually that's going to work over towards naples too. keep that in mind. south florida, best chance for

airport delays and any trouble on the roads. i mentioned it's a beautiful mid summer like day. it's warm in the afternoon but this is how we like it. perfect pool and beach weather. if you chose this week for vacation you chose wisely through the mid-atlantic and portions of the great lakes. temperatures still warm, it's still 90s from chicago to denver to billings but not that 100-degree heat. so we can deal with this. this is what we call typical middle summer type weather. and peek at tomorrow's forecast. heavy rain coming through the southeast, especially areas that desperately need it, we're crossing our fingers that the heavy rain gets into arkansas and eventually up into kentucky and to the ohio valley. we desperately need it. we've heard reports of how bad the corn crop is. we're going to feel it in the supermarkets if we don't get rain in a hurry. leaving you with a shot, washington, d.c., beautiful sunrise. nice day today up near 90. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. the postal service is critical to our economy,

delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer.

mitt's way ahead of president obama in fund-raising. and i think it's because he's, i don't know, he's got some sort of genius. he's a natural born showman, mitt romney. you've seen his latest campaign commercial? >> mitt romney's march to the white house continues with an astonishing $106 million raised in june. what's mitt's secret? vision and leadership of course. but mostly, women are responding to magic mitt ♪ it's raining men hallelujah it's raining men ♪ >> mitt romney, for america. >> that's pretty good. >> we're not watching this campaign closely enough.

i missed that. >> i would notice that. >> i was with the kids in nantucket and didn't see that speech. >> you were definitely -- >> you know what we missed quickly -- >> yeah. >> a story out of washington about this mayor, corrupt -- >> andrea? >> corruption of this mayor in washington. he gets elected. everybody knows, with a slush fund and nobody has picked it up. >> finally, his victory is tainted by a $600,000 slush fund which is a lot of money. >> "the washington post" finally brings it up. the national news media -- >> nobody in the national news media is pointing out there's corruption in washington. i answered my own question. >> we've ignored what's under our face, crimes, school, pay no attention. >> do more of that. >> it always shocked me what happened just in an cost ya, just down the -- other side of pennsylvania avenue. >> time to take a look at the

morning papers. we'll start with miami harold in our parade of papers. the paper says the u.s. released one of guantanamo bay's longest held prisoner confessed al qaeda foot soldier sometimes a driver for osama bin laden. ebrahim al cosy pleaded guilty to terror charges in 2010 in exchange for a a two-year sentence. the first convicted war criminal to be released home since 2008. >> "the wall street journal" says china is ramping up its state spending to encounter a sharp decline in growth. they've approved construction for two new steel plants despite a global oversupply in the steel industry. mika, this didn't make the china problem any better because there were stories a year ago that their hyper spending on transportation projects was exaggerating their growth prospects. this is a bubble that is going to explode.

>> it's always been the case with china. that's why you can't believe a lot of the data that come out of china. they create the businesses and the jobs that they need to absorb the population and to give people jobs. and to take care of this movement from the rural to the cities. you know, they fake it and they are creating a bubble. >> fake it exactly. >> something reassuring about it in the national security folks say one of the reasons we don't really face a military threat from them they have so many internal problems they can't. >> they have to worry more about internal security than external war. "usa today," ohio man cleaning out his grandfather's attic discovered a hidden treasure of baseball cards dating back to the early 1900s. the cards are in mint condition. >> no way. >> includes names like ty kobss, cy young and honus wagner. experts conferm the cards are

real and worth $3 million. antique road show -- >> 1910. >> the honus wagner card is like the holy grail. only two or three of them and worth about as mika indicated $3 million, $4 million. >> it would be like having a bryce harper card. >> or a mike trout card. >> i can get you one of those. >> verlander perhaps, the greatest pitcher in the world. excuse me. >> mike, will you ever go to cooperstown with me if i pay you enough money? >> i would go there for free any time any -- any time. >> the greatest small town in america, joe. >> i haven't -- i have not been up there since, believe it or not, my dad took me up there the day that whitey ford got inducted into the hall of fame and i have not been up there since. and i would love for mike barnicle to go with me. >> that would -- >> the guy who runs the hall of fame is from newton, massachusetts, jeff idleson. it's a great place to visit. great family place. you arrive in cooperstown, you

park your car and that's the last time you get in your car. you walk everywhere. nice village. >> road trip. >> let's do a show from up there. >> i would like to do that. >> andrea has been there. >> only because i was covering the camp, the hillary campaign for senate. >> andrea, pat moynihan lived about 15 miles from cooperstown. >> in fact, i did once go with pat moynihan. >> of course you did. really. >> that's where she was kicking off the race. we're joined by politico's chief white house correspondent mike allen with the morning playbook. let's start with michele obama and how she's playing a role in the president's campaign as it pertains maybe with the middle class. >> this is fascinating. she became such an asset at the end of the 2008 campaign after a rough start. but now they're using her in a different way. one of the few barriers between president obama and voters has been these little bit of exotic, the harvard thing, and she's been helping with that, as she's been on the road.

talking a lot about her -- the itty-bitty apartment she calls it that her mom grew up in, her dad going off to the water plant at the same time he was fighting ms. she has an authentically middle class experience that they're rolling out as another way to try to contrast with the romney background. >> there was a question i had about a politico story the other day, there were democrats concerned she wasn't campaigning for house members. and it hasn't always been the case that first ladies would go out and do these kinds of races? >> as you know, the house members have been whining about the president not doing enough for them either. jim mess seen in and david plouffe have been blunt, first thing's first, they're worried about themselves. house and senate later. >> her story resonated with the middle class and the challenges they face at this point. >> she's been a big part of the president's effort to reach out to veterans, big program to hire veterans, something else that's up on politico today,

specifically young veterans are a key part of this very narrow demographic stew they're trying to put together. your older veterans are pretty likely to go republicans. but they think they have a good chance with vets who are coming back. the unemployment rate was sky high, double digit. >> it's incredible. >> coming down a little bit. >> in fairness she and dr. biden have been doing all that good work for the veterans since long before the campaign. >> yeah. >> hiring our heros has been throughout the administration. >> fantastic. >> talk about some of the southern governors deciding to take a pass on medicaid, they're looking at the supreme court decision and making some pretty dramatic decisions. >> yeah. and joe here's the fascinating thing about this, the house keeps voting to repeal obama care which does nothing. but this does a lot. there are now five republican governors, texas, south carolina, louisiana, who have said that they're not going to take florida, who are saying they're not going to take the medicaid money. politico added it up and we found this means one in five of

the people who would have been eligible for additional coverage under obamacare, now are not. there's a bunch more governors still looking at it. >> what's the justification? for opting out? >> they're saying we've been given the chance by the supreme court to get free one thing from washington, we're going to do it virginia governor bob mcdonnell is thinking about it. another big state -- >> you could potentially have 26 governors, democrats say that won't happen -- >> what does that mean? >> it's half the country would not be buying in. you know, theoretically the whole thing works because of scale and if you don't have the size of people getting into those exchanges air got a real problem. >> they were counting on those states, all states, participating so when you had the 26 states sue, and then win on that point, on the medicaid point, then all of a sudden you've thrown the door open with respect to how you're going to fund obamacare going down the road. >> the counter argument, there's

going to be pressure on those governors to take the free dough. >> and we saw in the state of florida that opted out of other federal programs 10, 15 years ago, they eventually came into it because the weight on the population grows exponentially as time passes. the governors have to sit there and lk at this pot of money, but always know as governors do, it comes with strings attached and that's one of the big concerns republican governors have. >> the slew ramp is big. we find out that obamacare did not save any money as original had been promised and now it's not even working on the narrow grounds where it was sold. >> that's right. >> all right. mike allen, thank you very much. >> state visit. >> i have a confession to make. >> here we go. >> i know one place where obamacare is working. >> florida. >> no. i mean, is i'm going to get killed for saying this, i'm like having breakfast saturday morning and i'm eating my

pancakes and my wife asks me, what would have happened if the supreme court had repealed obamacare. and i'm sitting there going -- i'm sitting there, i look up, why do you ask? she said, because your 24-year-old son decided not to get health care at his employer. >> he's on your plan. >> and i looked up. i said, do you mean the scarborough family is buying in to obamacare! she said yes. >> busted. >> i have been calling my son for the past three days, he's not picking up the phone. i think -- i think -- >> just another obama voter. >> no -- >> my son may be. i don't know. i know this, he's not getting money taken out of his checkbook by -- >> i wonder how many republicans in washington have children who are buying into the plan? >> i don't know. i wonder how many republicans are as out of touch with what their sons are doing with their

health care plans as me. >> but that's -- i bet you there are most of them. >> oh, my lord, yes, of course. >> yeah. >> okay. >> of course. >> just another -- >> i pushed the pancakes away and just walked outside in a huff. >> like, thank you, stimulus. this is bad, i'll take it. sports is next with jonathan capehart. makes no sense. highlights from last night's all-star game. this will be awkward. back in a moment. welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com.

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